Should Cape Coral require the installation of fire sprinklers in new homes and duplexes?

Comments

jr4623

firebuddy read the report on that vote the board was going to reject until someone brought a bus load of voters to the meeting at the last moment.that board that sets the national building code has 0 members of the public 0 members of consumer groups and 0 members of industry it is 100% govt employees of various states, local and city s a real fare board doesn't look like it to me and the last i looked almost all states rejected the mandate

pgreen668

A recent article stated misinformation about residential sprinklers. The price of $1.78 is the cost of installation including labor. Also there are NO mandatory inspection requirements for residential sprinklers. The home owner can conduct the monthly inspections themselves. In addition, no fire service personnel will go out after the fact to inspect the system, unless the homeowner invites them onto the property. The costs savings from insurance does provide a payback on system. Time frame of payback depends on the size of the home. As residential sprinklers become the rule instead of the exception prices will down. As new materials are approved the systems will become cheaper. Please come Monday night to hear the truth.

Constantius

More government control in your life by little appointed functionarios. The next step will be mandatory hookup for already existing homes. I bought a house here in Cape Coral to escape upstate NY libs with their little political commitees, and now they are here. Is there no end? Wake up people. Enough is enough. How safe is safe? Don't let these small appointed local government officials have the power of State Troopers knocking at your door. They need to be removed asap with their silly, endless, endless, touchy/feel good and safe ideas. Thank you

pgreen668

Fire Injuries and deaths for the following years 2012 7 injuries 0 deaths 2011 2 injuries 0 deaths 2010 8 injuries 0 deaths 2009 14 injuries 0 deaths 2007 4 civilian injuries 0 deaths 2 firefighter injuries Some people would look at this and say well no one died we don't need sprinklers. I would like to point out that a major hurricane hasn't hit Florida in 7 years. We still prepare each year for one and by the way we didn't roll the Florida Building Code back either. Any community that thinks it doesn't have a fire problem, is only waiting for someone to die so they can then admit the problem. Sprinklers save lives.

pgreen668

In response to onlythetruth commenting that mandatory sprinklers are unconstitutional please note the following; Florida Statute 633 allows local governments to mandate residential sprinklers. An Economic Impact Analysis is required to be completed by law. This study was conducted and found a positive economic impact. By the way the study cost the citizens of Cape Coral nothing. It was paid for by the Lee County Fire Marshals Association. The City and County are well within the law.

onlythetruth

this ordinance is no different than the government requiring the populace to purchase health insurance. A premise which will be challenged as unconstitutional when the first fine is levied for not purchasing health insurance. Sprinklers are no different, what will they be mandating us to purchase next? Wholly unconstitutional any way you look at it.

pgreen668

The proposed ordinance dealing with residential sprinklers does provide incentives in the form of reduced impact fees. In addition, by state law insurance carriers must give a credit on your home owners insurance. When you couple these together the impact on a 30 year loan is only a few dollars a month. The more you know about residential sprinklers the easier the decision is to support them. Make sure the City Council hears your voice.

pgreen668

If you would like more information about Residential sprinklers or would like someone to talk to your group about the Sprinkler Initiative in Cape Coral, please e-mail me at president@leefiresafety****. I will be happy to discuss why sprinklers in homes are needed and why it is time to adopt a mandatory requirement.

pgreen668

In response to the post by onlythetruth on 4/1/2013 in which they bring up the issue of homes that are damaged by hurricane, fire, or other disasters. Yes, under the proposed ordinance those homes damaged more than 50% of their value would have to be rebuilt with residential sprinklers. I would also like to point out that if that same scenario happened now, you would be required to rebuild to the current Florida Building Code not the code in effect when the house was originally built. Home sprinklers are typically only 1to1.5 percent of the total cost of construction.The fact is sprinklers save lives and reduce property damage.

pgreen668

Just a little information about why the City should require residential fire sprinklers. 80% of all fire deaths occur in the home. A home fire is reported every 90 seconds in the United States. Over 2500 people die each year in home fires. Residential sprinklers decrease the chance of dying in a fire by 80%. They reduce property damage by 70%. 85% of the time one sprinkler head activates using 13-18 gallons per minute to control or extinguish the fire. Sprinklers are activated only by heat. They do not activate from smoke from burning toast. Also, they do not all activate at once as is so often portrayed in the movies and television.Sprinklers cost about $1.78 a square foot to install. How do I know all of this. I have been involved in the Cape Coral Residential Sprinkler Initiative since it started. As the President of the Lee County Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association I fully support the initiative.I believe that an informed public and City Council would agree that residential

lightswitch

The best incentive the city could offer would be to buy a home from the people who would want to leave this city.

National codes my foot. Look at the national home values and compare Cape Coral's.

Yeah wait till the fruit loops try to market homes with added absurd water & sewer assessments and now tax on electricity and other services we are already taxed on by the city.

One thing is sure the elusive build out for this city goes further and further out. Let's see 20 houses a month now at 2.5 people per house. Population at around 156,000. Why we will be at 430,000 in about 500 years. Better start hiring more public servants increasing pays and benefits by 50% and getting assistants for the assistants.

But wait that was already done under cit manager Terry Stewart who fled Cape Coral after that 7 year stint before the housing bubble. Let's do it again?

FireBuddy

Sprinklers are a national code requirement. Should we let homes be built in non-compliance with the national codes? I suspect the millions of families that are under water would say "build to code - give us value." The City should offer economic incentives to the builders like has occurred in other communities because if the City properly manages growth they will save much money. What happens to my flood insurance policy if the City does not enforce building codes?

onlythetruth

Here is the danger that no one is discussing; At what point do those homeowners who already have built become required to install sprinklers? No one is addressing this elephant in the room. Say your home is damaged due to hurricane, fire etc, what % of damage is the tripwire which kicks in a requirement that you now need to install the sprinkler system, vastly increasing your costs to rebuild?